Can Senioritis or Senior Slump be Fatal?

Can senioritis or senior slump be fatal? The answer is YES, at least with regard to college admission decisions.

Every year students are unaccepted or put on probation for a significant drop in grades or for behavior deemed inappropriate. Below is a link to an article about 10 Harvard students who were recently notified they had been unaccepted for offensive online postings:

This phenomenon is not unique to Harvard. Colleges reserve the right to withdraw offers of admission for a significant dip in grades or a lapse in decent behavior. A student’s college acceptance isn’t a ticket to check out of the last few weeks of high school. Students need to consider whether their actions after an acceptance are worth the price they may pay for them.

Some warnings of behavior to stay away from in general, but especially late in senior year:

Posting negative comments on the internet, especially ones that condone or promote violence against others.

Getting arrested, suspended or expelled. Your guidance department may be obligated to notify the colleges where you were accepted or wait listed what has occurred since the midyear report.

Slacking off the academics. While it can be tempting to stop caring about schoolwork and start focusing more on fun activities, letting final grades slide can have profound consequences. Colleges expect students to continue with their current course schedule maintaining the level of academic and personal success demonstrated on their application, so a significant drop in grades, typically a drop of a full letter grade, can find a student being unaccepted or placed on academic probation for a semester or year in college.

Note: Performing well on AP exams may mean that a student can graduate college early, saving thousands of after-tax dollars and enter the workforce earlier. This will increase lifetime earnings significantly. Not doing well on AP exams takes away this opportunity.

Failure to live up to the expectations that you will finish your senior year blemish-free can have some grave and costly consequences: